Coil: Living with stagnation

by Vidyaratha Kissoon

The drains with stagnant water could be easily be cleared if the culverts are fixed.

In August 2014, the then Ministry of Public Works met with Subryanville residents. The PPP/C government wanted to give out money to people to clean drains but not fix culverts.

In May 2015, the government changed and the Ministry of Public Works became the Ministry of Public Infrastructure. The residents thought about fund raising to fix the culverts. There was need for Official Approval though because of  logistical issues (such as blocking roads , diverting traffic, sanctioning the prosperous capitalists who had received permission from the City Council for enterprises which damaged the drainage.

Subryanville resident, Damian Fernandes worked with others to determine the cause of the blockages.  The presentation document is a testimony to the interest of the community to analyse the problems.  There are probably thousands of documents in Guyana which have the recommendations to deal with some of the problems. Nicole Cole wrote about the 58 recommendations made by concerned citizens convened under a National Committee for the Prevention of Interpersonal Violence – recommendations which are likely to be the same regardless of which political party is in power.

In August 2015, the Minister of Public Infrastructure visited with the residents. It was a good meeting, promises to fix the culverts on the public road and to advocate with the powerful City Council which had the power to remove the water or to retain it.

In January 2016, the drains were being cleared, much like how the 2014 Ministry had thought about clearing drains. It was sad to see the grass grow back in no time in the stagnant drains. Some places did not flood. Other places flooded like before. There were promises of culverts at other meetings.

In May 2016, the dry season ended. Time flowed. The water has not. There are citizens, maybe even voters for change , who have littered the drains. The culverts have not  been fixed.

Money is not the problem it seems. There are adequate engineering skills available.  There is some black hole, a blocked culvert it seems , between the Ministry and the City Council.

And the stagnant water remains as a hold over from one administration to another.  A frightening reminder that some things might be superficially fixed, while the underlying causes remain the same.

The profound observation attributed to the Minister of Public Security “Ramjattan: High unemployment among youths leads to criminality” in the Guyana Chronicle seems similar to the conclusions in 2013 of Clement Rohee’s Ministry of Home Affairs.

The police seem to be finding the criminals. Charges are being laid.

A woman whose child was killed during the last administration is feeling confident the case will be solved now . She said a police told her that more people are willing to give information now than before to deal with crime.

The young people though who commit crime seem to be absent from the conversations. Has it become easier for young people to find work?  What is the point at which young people decide to commit crime when looking for work ? How easy is it for young people to access help to do work and become entrepreneurs and to be inventive and so?

Three young women were selling juice near Bourda Market. They were assertive and pleasant. Their juice was the best in the world they assured me. I passed, and looked and asked the price. And walked away because I did not want juice really but wanted to be polite.

One of the women said that the bottle and label carry up the price. The label was printed in colour and on paper.  There are requirements to have labels.  The labels  had faded in the ice and I could imagine an authority passing  by and saying the products do not have proper labels. There was soursop juice, cherry juice, pine and ginger juice.

Soursop was on my mind as I had received advice to freeze some soursop and coconut milk to eat when I get the sugar cravings.     A man had told me that he was not waving flags for patriotism during the jubilee. He said his acts of patriotism were small things “Like gaffing wid a old granny.

Puttin piece ah paper in de bin., Buyin local fruits, talking bad English and learning an indigenous
language”

I had not set out to buy soursop juice.  The juice in the bottle with the faded label was excellent value for money. I wish I could have had better advice for the young women about the labels.  I could feel self-righteous about the patriotic duty of supporting the cheerful young women , sweating in the humidity and probably not contemplating crime.

The talk of young people, joblessness and crime never really gets much beyond talk.

There are no known job centres in Guyana to help young people organise themselves for work.

In December 2015, Minister Broomes had talked about strengthening the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agencyy. Minister Broomes was subsequently removed . There is no indication where jobless young people not contemplating crime could go to find work. I wondered if the young women selling juice would have been chased away from their spot for ‘illegal vending’. I wondered if buying from them would make me complicit in an offence.

Vendors have been ‘cleared’ away to make room for nice open city spaces. The relocation of the vendors to the Parliament View Mall is part of the Government’s quest for nice green city spaces.

There is a green city space not far from Parliament View Mall.

In December 2012, Parliament Square was opened by then President Ramotar. The Government at the time wanted a nice space to help boost tourism and so. However, affter that, the gates were locked.

On 10 June, 2015  – Minister Bulkan reopened the gates of Parliament Square. There was supposed to be public access for people to sit and listen to parliament.  The gates have been mostly locked since then as far as I know.

On 10 June 2016, the gates of Parliament Square were still locked. The padlocks might have rusted in the recent rains.  There is no sign about how citizens could access the square.

It is not clear if the vision for green space in the city is stagnated at citizens enjoying the green spaces through locked grill gates.

The stagnation continues in so many ways. There are reports that skills are available in the public health system to do once complex surgeries. There is an article about a brain surgery – equipment has been purchased but there is uncertainty about its installation.  There are anecdotes though, that as with the previous administration, requests for new technology  from the medical staff have been ignored.

Every time I pass the stagnant water I wonder if revolution is needed. Residents block the road, tell the traffic to go elsewhere and risk arrest and so, while new culverts are installed.  It is easy to dream of one small act of revolution to  overcome the stagnation and get things moving. It is easy to ignore that things are stagnant and get used to the stagnation and get old and die.